Apple must raise prices – Now!

Jobs, you're too cheap

Letters This week Steve Jobs' altruism won out over his business sense, as Apple's decided to charge $100 a year for iTools (dot.Mac) and $129 for the upgrade to OS X 10.2.

As many readers have pointed out, these represent stunning value compared to other domestic services, such as cable TV, let alone rival software and service bundles.

So with your encouragement, we're embarking on a campaign for Apple to raise its prices immediately. We think that Apple users can and should volunteer to pay more to ensure the long-term viability of the company.

"The free web is over," Apple CEO Steve Jobs declared this week, and with your help, we hope we can make it as expensive as we possibly can.

We hope that Apple raises the dot.Mac subscription to at least $200 a year, and reconsiders its scandalous low-pricing - effectively a "giveaway" - of the valuable Jaguar OS upgrade. $500 should be nearer the mark, considering the many improvements and accessories offered in the upgrade.

And we're not alone.

Many Register reading Mac devotees are of the same opinion. In this precarious business climate, Apple needs to raise it prices… and fast. Cynics who suggest the company sits on a cash pile of $4,000,000,000 are neglecting the day-to-day economics of cash flow. And Apple needs to lubricate this cash flow from you, the users, to them, as best it can. That's its perogative. And your duty is to help, however you can.

Register readers have already joined our campaign to hike prices:-

Not only do I praise Apple for charging for their software - but I think they didn't go far enough.

[Alwrright! - Letters Ed.]

If you look around the industry - everyone (and I mean hardware, software and services companies) have had to wake up to the realities of the marketplace.

True - they're spoiled users up until now with so many 'freebees' - but you
can't run a company on freebees.

Loyal Mac users should have realized this day was coming.

Marc Canter

Exactly. Marc's not alone.

So let me see, someone who is ignorant enough to think that they should get things for free, complains about having to pay and complains so much that they ditch their current computer and buy another one for which they will have to pay and then pay for an online service for their mail. So instead of coughing up 30 quid they would prefer to cough up thousands and use Windows.

So let me see, someone who is ignorant enough to think that they should get things for free, complains about having to pay and complains so much that they ditch their current computer and buy another one for which they will have to pay and then pay for an online service for their mail. So instead of coughing up 30 quid they would prefer to cough up thousands and use Windows.

Steve Ferris

Right on, Steve. One opportunity that Apple missed this week was the option of deducting our essential Apple taxes from source - right from our pay packets. I'd be delighted to hand over a substantial portion of my salary at source directly to Apple, and I'm sure many other Apple users would, too. This scheme could be incorporated into the revamped .Mac package seamlessly - as Apple has licensed Amazon.com's One-Click shtopping scheme. Perhaps under a snappy marketing banner, such as iSyphon. Or whatever.

Reckless potshots at this week's price rises cut little ice with the faithful:-

I think the complaints about .Mac pricing are off-base. If Jobs had announced a $20 charge for iCal, $20 for iSync, $40 for Virex, etc., and given the services portion away free, people would have barely registered a complaint. "Sure we'll pay for software" they would say.
Instead, Jobs has given away a solid suite of programs and asked people to pay a yearly fee to fully take advantage of the software. iCal is a great calendaring program. Even for $20 it would be a steal. Same with iSync and Virex. These are best-in-class programs, and iCal is so much better that it has no significant rival. The only software that comes to mind is Action Scheduler, and that is $50, if I remember correctly.
So, I think .Mac is eminently "worth it." In fact, it is a bargain. Broadband connections (mine, at least) is $40 a month. Cable TV is even more. Landline phones? More. My static-clogged, obsolete-when-purchased (no 3G, of course) cell phone? That much plus. Mac is more like $8 a month, and $4 for the current iTools members (everyone in the Keynote and target .mac audience, basically.) For $19 a month, a student can rent a nice iMac (see store.apple.com education-> leasing) and subscribe to .Mac services. Hardly unreasonable. (A far sight from the $300 Microsoft charges for their glorified word processor. So 10.2 costs $129 and offers no upgrade pricing? Office v.X is $200 to upgrade.)
Lastly, the so-called "hard core" Mac users always find a reason to complain during and after every keynote. Even though I have owned a Mac since 1984 and never once a PC, and I would never switch platforms in a million years, I do not put myself in that category. I do not ask Apple to make OS X run on my Mac Plus. I do not rage blindly against any new UI features Mr. Jobs and Co. want to add to the system. I like the Dock and column view. To me, OS 9 now looks cheap, like it was drawn by a toddler, and is maddening to use. They are just continuing the tradition of complaining about Apple.

Abe Jellinek

Sing hosannas! A Register reader who can join the dots.

With the mighty "pay more" swelling of Mac evangelists behind us, we have no hesitation